One example of a Scripture which is very often misunderstood, and consequently misused, as if it were saying actually the opposite of what it does say, is in Hebrews:
Hebrews 3:14
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
"We are made partakers", in the interlinear, this shows as "we have become" partakers of Christ.
The thing to take note of here is that "we have become" is in the Perfect Tense.
From NTGreek.net:
If you remember that the meaning of the word perfect is complete, then you can remember that the perfect tense has to do with completed action. But the perfect tense is a primary tense because it emphasizes the present, or ongoing result of a completed action.
Course II, Lesson 3
Another example of the Perfect Tense is,
Paul asserts, "I have seen" Jesus Christ our Lord.
It's like a rung bell. You cast a bell, hang it, put the clapper in, but you never ring it. It's an "unrung bell". Then you ring it. Now it's a rung bell. It can never be again a bell that's not been rung.
Paul was someone who had seen Jesus. He would never again be someone who has not seen Jesus.
And we have become partakers of Jesus, never again to not be a partaker of Jesus, if our faith continues to the end.
I suppose at this point, someone may point out, you have to wait until the end to see if you made it. And you'd better not let your faith fail!
But I suggest there is more to this than that.
"The Spirit testifies with our our spirit that we are the children of God", Paul wrote to the Roman Christians.
We don't have to wait to know. What we need to know is, do we know God?
Much love!
Hebrews 3:14
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
"We are made partakers", in the interlinear, this shows as "we have become" partakers of Christ.
The thing to take note of here is that "we have become" is in the Perfect Tense.
From NTGreek.net:
If you remember that the meaning of the word perfect is complete, then you can remember that the perfect tense has to do with completed action. But the perfect tense is a primary tense because it emphasizes the present, or ongoing result of a completed action.
Course II, Lesson 3
Another example of the Perfect Tense is,
Paul asserts, "I have seen" Jesus Christ our Lord.
It's like a rung bell. You cast a bell, hang it, put the clapper in, but you never ring it. It's an "unrung bell". Then you ring it. Now it's a rung bell. It can never be again a bell that's not been rung.
Paul was someone who had seen Jesus. He would never again be someone who has not seen Jesus.
And we have become partakers of Jesus, never again to not be a partaker of Jesus, if our faith continues to the end.
I suppose at this point, someone may point out, you have to wait until the end to see if you made it. And you'd better not let your faith fail!
But I suggest there is more to this than that.
"The Spirit testifies with our our spirit that we are the children of God", Paul wrote to the Roman Christians.
We don't have to wait to know. What we need to know is, do we know God?
Much love!